Daily Trust Editorial of Monday May 20, 2024
On May 6, 2024, Vice President Kashim Shettima aborted his trip to the United States, where he was to represent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas, as the Gulfstream 550 presidential jet he was travelling with developed technical fault mid-way.
Earlier, the NAF 001 Boeing 737 developed a technical fault during President Tinubu’s trip to Saudi Arabia. The president reportedly used a chartered aircraft for the trip.
These incidents join the others wherein aircraft of the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) had become a national embarrassment. For example, on July 28 , 2010, NAF 001 conveying the then President Goodluck Jonathan developed some components and parts faults after it taxied for take-off at the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda after the 15th African Union Summit.
The PAF was formed to primarily provide rapid, safe and comfortable airlift for the president, vice president, Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Federation and any other Very Important Personalities (VIPs) approved by the president. At other times, heads of African nations have been ferried by PAF. It has also been used to carry VIP felons. In 2003, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was flown into Nigeria by PAF to be exiled in Calabar, Cross River State.
With headquarters at the Presidential Wing of Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, PAF has an inventory of 10 aircraft. Over time, presidential jets have been used for personal or non-official purposes by public officials and their families. In the process, it has become another avenue of abuse and waste of public funds.
For example, about seven months ago, the president’s first son, Seyi, cruised in one of the presidential jets with some of his friends to attend polo games in Kano. In October 2022, a presidential jet was used by the APC presidential women campaign team led by the wife of the then APC presidential candidate, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, and wife of vice presidential candidate, Hajiya Nana Shettima, when they visited Makurdi, the capital of Benue State, to commiserate with flood victims.
In January 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, Hanan, flew in a presidential jet to Bauchi on a “study tour” of Bauchi Emirate to attend the Durbar as part of her fieldwork for her master’s programme in photography at a UK university.
The evolution of PAF began in the 1970s with its aircraft manned solely by pilots from the defunct Nigeria Airways. In December 1978, the federal government transferred operations of all presidential aircraft from Nigeria Airways to the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) with the Executive Squadron created to handle the responsibilities. The Executive Squadron later metamorphosed into the Executive Airlift Group (EAG).
In December 1985, following the late Maj. Gen. Mamman Vatsa abortive coup, the Presidential Boeing 727 aircraft was withdrawn from the Executive Airlift Group and handed over to an exclusive set of Nigeria Airways pilots to control. In 1986, the Presidential Fleet (PF) was formed with Captain Moses Gowon as its head. In January 1996, the military EAG and the civilian PF crew merged under a single command – Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).
NAF statistics show that its current staff strength is about 47 NAF officers, 173 airmen/airwomen and 96 civilian staff, both of which are of the technical and administrative units.
Over the years, PAF has become part of the paraphernalia of Nigeria’s imperial presidency. Daily Trust believes it is time for the country to reconsider the propriety of having an unofficial airline with substantial amounts required for their scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
After all, the United Kingdom, even as the sixth largest economy/richest in the world, in 2024, according to the IMF, has no aircraft attached to either the king or the prime minister. Members of the British government fly either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic for official trips.
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong travels in commercial aircraft, usually operated by Cathay Pacific. He travels with helicopters operated by the Government Flying Service.
The President and Prime Minister of Singapore and government officials typically travel on regular scheduled commercial flights run by Singapore Airlines. However, on rare occasions or short trips, government officials may travel on one of the few passenger-configured Fokker-50 operated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force.
The President of Ghana flies on a Falcon EX 900 jet. The Egyptian government operates an Airbus A340-200 as a VIP transport. The first presidential airplane was given as a gift from Saudi Arabia to Egypt.
The reality is that in the face of our nation’s economic situation, we cannot afford to maintain the PAF. The cost of mandatory tests and checks on each and general maintenance is too much for a fragile economy like Nigeria’s to sustain.
Therefore, we at Daily Trust call for the scrapping of the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) and the sale of all the aircraft in the fleet. This will help to reduce the cost of governance.
In its place, new jets should be procured each for the president and vice president and operated by NAF. Let other federal government officials use commercial airlines for their travels and movement, which is cheaper and will help to cut costs. Every Nigerian has been forced to adjust to reality. Our leaders should not be exempted.